I have been a beta tester for the past month or two and it is much improved! Things on the list...

Clairty has two sliders that gives you great control
Sessions and a new catalog feature. It looks like media pro
Overall image enhancement. they simply look better immediately!
Liveview for DSLR.
Noise reduction imporved as well

There are various other features, such as refined preview speed and size, and a host of other things. Everytime I went back to Capture One 6 to get some work done, it just felt old! This upgrade is amazing!

After four or five days when it finishes downloading, I should be much better off than currently with C1Pro 6. Note: speed tests show my internet connection is fast. I guess Capture one servers were not ready for their sales.

I've noticed an improvement images over the same images processed in Pro 6. So far I don't like the new Library system as I have my own way of filing images. There is a bit of a learning curve so I might change my mind when I get to know it better.

It also has lens correction for the Canon G1x that was not available in Pro 6. Noise is handled much better than Noise Ninja that was my standard before. If you already have Pro 6 it's well worth the $99 upgrade.

Yes, it is well worth the upgrade! The lens correction, noise reduction, live view and just over all image improvement.

I tried downloading the Grand Master/Final Release and like you guys experienced, the servers were slow. I'll try again later.

Hopefully this Final Release has all the bugs shaken out and maybe the latest Canon SDK is in there for 1DX, 5Dii, 5Diii users. I haven't looked into it to see. I had issues with the latest version of Capture One 6 as well as some betas of 7 because canon screwed up with their SDK. I had to resort to image capture and hot folder. I'm still running 6.4.2 right now so I can get functionality on 10.8.2.

I am downloading it at two places - at home, where I have 12 hours remaining (about halfway done), and at work (where we have fibre) where I have two days remaining. Is there any way to download it from a server that actually works?

Well, since the NR C16 sucked, anything will be a huge improvement. C1 has always been my first choice for raw processing, so I'm looking forward to trying this new version out. Looking forward at 3.4 kb per second right now.

I downloaded it yesterday evening, I'm in Europe so I had no problems. It's speed of RAW conversion is the same as v6 - 50 raw files from 5DII reduced to 50% in jpg 90% quality, using some adjustments in 4 minutes (I have I7 920 2.66GHZ), but still it doesn't use 100% of CPU - as I have described here : http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1159651

In introduction video it says that conversion is background process, I tried to switch windows priority from foreground tasks to background task but it didn't help. I know that it probably allows me to work on my computer while conversion is running, but I'm more interested in having it done fast.

I downloaded yesterday morning and had no problems at all. C1Pro7 adds some great features, such as gradient mask and yes, you can invert masks now; but, the 7 process engine takes away some great stuff that C1Pro6 process engine renders better, for example, Clarity and High Dynamic Range tools produce much better results in C1Pro6. Here is another mirror download site: http://www.digitaltransitions.com/page/capture-one-pro

IsleofGough wrote:
I actually much prefer the clarity in the newer version. The shadow/highlight controls are also much better. What was better for you about Clarity and HDR tools in the older version?

The you tube video is such crap, all this idiot does is show the tools at +100, like anyone would use that setting. If you use the tools properly to enhance the clarity just slightly the tools work extremely well. It amazes me that so many "experts" can find subtle ways to criticize just about anything.

I agree, testing at 100% proves nothing it's the end result that matters.
I tried playing around with it last night and from what I see when using the shadow adjustment it seems to lighten the whole image as LR4 is not as bad.

dennishh wrote:
The you tube video is such crap, all this idiot does is show the tools at +100, like anyone would use that setting. If you use the tools properly to enhance the clarity just slightly the tools work extremely well. It amazes me that so many "experts" can find subtle ways to criticize just about anything.

The way to test anything's performance is to put it under some extreme conditions.